Could you live on €10 a day?

Overheal · 14-10-2009 12:08AM

your doing it wrong if you are taking it a 10 euro per day and not 300 euro per month.

Firefox10 · 14-10-2009 12:10AM

It depends on what you mean by 10 euro a day. I easily get by on 10 Euro on day to day spending. (Excluding Bills, Mortgage etc.)

CodeMonkey · 14-10-2009 12:11AM

With €10, I can get a nice striploin/ribeye steak from Fallen & Byrnes with enough change for toast/cereal in the morning and a decent homemade sandwich or left over dinner for lunch.

Going hungry with €10 to spend on food is a sad indication of poor budgeting and laziness. People who think €10 a day for food is just surviving have had it easy for too long. Wake up people.

ClaudiaSchiffer · 14-10-2009 12:13AM

ohohoh wrote: »

€70 a week is loads if you're prepare to put in the effort and if you have the time to shop properly

Invest in tubbaware and zip lock bags. Plan your food for the week and bring your lunch into work

Cooked chicken €6 - take all the chicken off it and freeze it. Or make a massive curry and put into single portion freezer bags.
2kg Bacon Bits in Lidl €2 - break up into single portions and you can make loads of bacon/pasta meals.

I could go on but you get my drift. Anyway shop in bulk I find is alot more efficient

After my weekend train ticket, it works out at €45.50 a week which is €6.50 a week

Cheers for the ideas thou. Don't suppose you know if there's a Aldi/Lidl in south city centre (Dub)?

CodeMonkey · 14-10-2009 12:15AM

A twin pack of chicken legs (includes drumstick and thighs) from Mark and Spenser is less than €7. There's enough there for at least 5 dinner even if you have a big appetite.

ClaudiaSchiffer · 14-10-2009 12:21AM

Overheal wrote: »

your doing it wrong if you are taking it a 10 euro per day and not 300 euro per month.

I've work it both ways - daily and monthly.

colm_c · 14-10-2009 12:25AM

ClaudiaSchiffer wrote: »

After my weekend train ticket, it works out at €45.50 a week which is €6.50 a week

Cheers for the ideas thou. Don't suppose you know if there's a Aldi/Lidl in south city centre (Dub)?

Take the bus, it's usually less than half the price of a train, also if you're going home at the weekend then surely you have a free weekend without the need to buy food?

Why is the limit €10 a day anyway? Surely you could push that to €11?

Give us a run down of your budget.

aidan24326 · 14-10-2009 12:25AM

ClaudiaSchiffer wrote: »

Cheers for the ideas thou. Don't suppose you know if there's a Aldi/Lidl in south city centre (Dub)?

There's an Aldi in Rathmines (Swan Centre). Tesco is pretty cheap now aswell, and always watch out for special offers, 33% off, buy one get one free that sort of thing.

CodeMonkey wrote: »

A twin pack of chicken legs (includes drumstick and thighs) from Mark and Spenser is less than €7. There's enough there for at least 5 dinner even if you have a big appetite.

M&S is not really the place for budget shopping in fairness.

Easy to get by on 10euro/day foodwise, but it depends what other expenses you have. Will vary alot from person to person. But it IS possible these days to eat reasonably well on a low budget if you're smart about how you shop.

Coriolanus · 14-10-2009 12:28AM

How do you only have 10 bob a day? Welfare is at least 210 and if you can kidnap a few kids and claim them as your own you'll be getting child benefit, abandoned spouse, lone parent etc?

ClaudiaSchiffer · 14-10-2009 12:29AM

CodeMonkey wrote: »

With €10, I can get a nice striploin/ribeye steak from Fallen & Byrnes with enough change for toast/cereal in the morning and a decent homemade sandwich or left over dinner for lunch.

Going hungry with €10 to spend on food is a sad indication of poor budgeting and laziness. People who think €10 a day for food is just surviving have had it easy for too long. Wake up people.

I understand your point but I can't not tax my car and I can't dismiss family birthdays, my pension contributions and my loan repayments.

Back a couple of years ago, money was never an issue. I never had to think about what I was spending as there was always plenty of cash and savings. It's just a bit of a shock to the system over the past few months.

CodeMonkey · 14-10-2009 12:30AM

aidan24326 wrote: »

M&S is not really the place for budget shopping in fairness.

Easy to get by on 10euro/day foodwise, but it depends what other expenses you have. Will vary alot from person to person. But it IS possible these days to eat reasonably well on a low budget if you're smart about how you shop.

I am making the point that you can still eat well and shop in F&B and M&S with €10 a day. You don't have to just "survive" with €10.

barry181091 · 14-10-2009 12:34AM

Haha, if we're just talking food I have a great suggestion.

At 7pm ish tesco reduce their cooked chickens to 2.50€. Now that's cheap and would last you ages

Kalashnikov_Kid · 14-10-2009 12:34AM

ClaudiaSchiffer wrote: »

Since the recession rolled into town, I, like most people, took a major wage decrease and now I'm finding it so hard to cope every month. I don't have the money to go out and defo don't have the money to buy clothes or even a magazine. Nearly every month, there's either birthdays, bills or car tax to be paid.

Sell the car and get a bicycle instead. Or if you're lazy, a moped/125cc. You have already said that you spend money on trains every weekend, so is the car a real necessity?

ghostdancer · 14-10-2009 12:35AM

at least 2 local butchers do meal packs. i'm sure ones in your area do to.

€20 in one of them gets:
12 sausages
1lb mince
1 whole chicken
4 pork chops
4 burgers

1lb mince makes lasagne for 3 days, other lasagne stuff (pasta, sauces,cheese) is less than 8 quid. (€28)
the chicken gets about 4 days worth of chicken sandwiches for lunch. add bread + other filling for at most €6 (€34)

buy a big bag of frozen chips for 3 quid, that's 4 days of burger and chips dinners (€37)

cereal and 4L of milk for breakfasts for the week €7 (€44)

so breakfast for the week done.
lunch for 4 days done
dinner for the week done.

treat yourself to a roll/sandwich from the shop on friday. (€5)

sausages/eggs (€1.50)/beans (€2.50)/toast for lunch/brunch at the weekends (€48)

at least €15 (and pork chops) left over then. spend a fiver on fruit for the week for snacking.

a few weeks of this and you'll have enough left over to get treats a little more regularly.

ghostdancer · 14-10-2009 12:37AM

ClaudiaSchiffer wrote: »

After my weekend train ticket, it works out at €45.50 a week which is €6.50 a week

Cheers for the ideas thou. Don't suppose you know if there's a Aldi/Lidl in south city centre (Dub)?

if you're just going back home every week, surely you can just go every 2nd or 3rd week instead, assuming you've no urgent responsibilities at home?

humberklog · 14-10-2009 12:40AM

CodeMonkey wrote: »

With €10, I can get a nice striploin/ribeye steak from Fallen & Byrnes with enough change for toast/cereal in the morning and a decent homemade sandwich or left over dinner for lunch.

Going hungry with €10 to spend on food is a sad indication of poor budgeting and laziness. People who think €10 a day for food is just surviving have had it easy for too long. Wake up people.

Shopping in Fallon + Byrne for steak whilst on a tight budget is a very sad indication of very poor budgeting and disastrous judgement.

And just how much we still believe in the pups we were sold when things were aplenty for some.

Rebelheart · 14-10-2009 12:42AM

ClaudiaSchiffer wrote: »

..I'm trying to do this for the month of October but it's proving very difficult.

This is my second week and not only am I starving but I've become nicely acquainted with migraine which I've never experienced before.

Since the recession rolled into town, I, like most people, took a major wage decrease and now I'm finding it so hard to cope every month. I don't have the money to go out and defo don't have the money to buy clothes or even a magazine. Nearly every month, there's either birthdays, bills or car tax to be paid.

So, this is why I need to get by on €10 a day..it sounds easy but trust me, it's not! I don't know what other options I have right now. Does anyone have any ideas???????

Sorry for the rant/moan btw..it's just something that's really worrying me at the mo with xmas around the corner.

€10 is a fortune! The first thing you must do is really accept that and then you will discover that it goes a lot further than you had envisaged. The great thing about not having enough money to eat is that you have less energy. This allows you to go to bed earlier and sleep longer. You will crave tiredness as it is an escape from hunger. You will want the days to pass faster and hate waking up at night and think of very creative ways to get yourself tired quicker.

Beans and toast (no butter): that is the secret to survival in this world.
Water: drink loads of it (while it's still free in Dublin and unmetered in the rest of the country)

PS: Maybe look at the whole thing as a sort of self-imposed Lent-style restriction. That 40 days mentality always works for me at the start of giving up anything.

PPS: Feck the birthdays. Look after yourself. Let people know you are cutting back and they'll be more impressed than offended by it. I think what you're doing is cool. You might even get more spiritual from it. People generally buy far too much that they don't actually need.

Rebelheart · 14-10-2009 12:44AM

humberklog wrote: »

Shopping in Fallon + Byrne for steak whilst on a tight budget is a very sad indication of very poor budgeting and disastrous judgement.

And just how much we still believe in the pups we were sold when things were aplenty for some.

hehe. They must have been taking the piss!

ClaudiaSchiffer · 14-10-2009 12:44AM

colm_c wrote: »

Take the bus, it's usually less than half the price of a train, also if you're going home at the weekend then surely you have a free weekend without the need to buy food?

Why is the limit €10 a day anyway? Surely you could push that to €11?

Give us a run down of your budget.

Hey, I mailed you privately but not sure if it went. It supposedly sent but then I checked my sent box and there was nothing there?

CodeMonkey · 14-10-2009 12:47AM

humberklog wrote: »

Shopping in Fallon + Byrne for steak whilst on a tight budget is a very sad indication of very poor budgeting and disastrous judgement.

And just how much we still believe in the pups we were sold when things were aplenty for some.

Not realizing €10 is a lot of money to spend on food and you don't actually have to do that much budgeting is what's sad. Not getting this point I was making even though I've spelled it out is as dumb as going hungry with €10 to spend on food.

starbelgrade · 14-10-2009 12:49AM

ghostdancer wrote: »

at least 2 local butchers do meal packs. i'm sure ones in your area do to.

€20 in one of them gets:
12 sausages
1lb mince
1 whole chicken
4 pork chops
4 burgers

1lb mince makes lasagne for 3 days, other lasagne stuff (pasta, sauces,cheese) is less than 8 quid. (€28)
the chicken gets about 4 days worth of chicken sandwiches for lunch. add bread + other filling for at most €6 (€34)

buy a big bag of frozen chips for 3 quid, that's 4 days of burger and chips dinners (€37)

cereal and 4L of milk for breakfasts for the week €7 (€44)

so breakfast for the week done.
lunch for 4 days done
dinner for the week done.

treat yourself to a roll/sandwich from the shop on friday. (€5)

sausages/eggs (€1.50)/beans (€2.50)/toast for lunch/brunch at the weekends (€48)

at least €15 (and pork chops) left over then. spend a fiver on fruit for the week for snacking.

a few weeks of this and you'll have enough left over to get treats a little more regularly.

That is one SERIOUSLY unhealthy diet. Eat that for a few years & you'll be dead, or at the very least, obese in the extreme.

As for trying to save money - €3 for a bag of frozen chips? You can get a 10kilo bag of spuds for €4/5 that will last you a month, or more.

Pygmalion · 14-10-2009 12:49AM

Moved to college now.
Pretty much living off cheese sandwiches and pot noodles (€1 each this week in the campus shop), do this and you're pretty much sorted, could probably get by fairly easily on a fiver a day in terms of food + milk.
I don't really trust the tap water here (I was sick a couple of weeks ago, once I stopped drinking tap water and got a big bottle seemed to get a lot better, maybe just coincidence though) so I generally buy a big bottle of water and/or look out for very cheap drinks. Might push it a bit over a fiver.

Problem is of course that I seem to be going through deoderant, shower gel, shampoo, toilet roll and stuff like that at roughly the same rate, so they'll probably end up running out around the same time.

ClaudiaSchiffer · 14-10-2009 12:51AM

Kalashnikov_Kid wrote: »

Sell the car and get a bicycle instead. Or if you're lazy, a moped/125cc. You have already said that you spend money on trains every weekend, so is the car a real necessity?

I don't have the car in the city. I use the car only at the weekends down home. Home is not in a town. I need it at the weekends.

starbelgrade · 14-10-2009 12:52AM

I might be missing something here - is it €10 a day full stop, or €10 just on food alone?

Stercus Accidit · 14-10-2009 12:53AM

ClaudiaSchiffer wrote: »

Excuse me?

My rent alone is more than 10 euro a day.

Kalashnikov_Kid · 14-10-2009 12:54AM

Pygmalion wrote: »

I don't really trust the tap water here (I was sick a couple of weeks ago, once I stopped drinking tap water seemed to get a lot better, maybe just coincidence though) so I generally buy a big bottle of water and/or look out for very cheap drinks. Might push it a bit over a fiver.

Nah thats just a big bogger conspiracy. Maybe it was all the JD and coke in Coppers

Seriously buying water is probably the biggest waste of money I could think of!

humberklog · 14-10-2009 12:57AM

CodeMonkey wrote: »

Not realizing €10 is a lot of money to spend on food and you don't actually have to do that much budgeting is what's sad. Not getting this point I was making even though I've spelled it out is as dumb as going hungry with €10 to spend on food.

Got lost a bit there CM but were you saying it makes sense to shop in F+B for steak or just making a different point? Not being smartarsed here I thought you were genuinely suggesting it.

10 quid is possible if you break it down to exactly that: 1 day. But I can't see that economics working under the variable stress factors that would enter the equation over...let's say a bi monthly period.

ClaudiaSchiffer · 14-10-2009 12:58AM

Pygmalion wrote: »

Moved to college now.
Pretty much living off cheese sandwiches and pot noodles (€1 each this week in the campus shop), do this and you're pretty much sorted, could probably get by fairly easily on a fiver a day in terms of food + milk.
I don't really trust the tap water here (I was sick a couple of weeks ago, once I stopped drinking tap water and got a big bottle seemed to get a lot better, maybe just coincidence though) so I generally buy a big bottle of water and/or look out for very cheap drinks. Might push it a bit over a fiver.

Problem is of course that I seem to be going through deoderant, shower gel, shampoo, toilet roll and stuff like that at roughly the same rate, so they'll probably end up running out around the same time.

My €10 budget went out the window today due to toiletries! They're expensive things. This whole process this month is really wising me up however having to daily watch my money is getting me down.

ClaudiaSchiffer · 14-10-2009 12:59AM

starbelgrade wrote: »

I might be missing something here - is it €10 a day full stop, or €10 just on food alone?

€10 a day full stop.

Kalashnikov_Kid · 14-10-2009 01:00AM

ClaudiaSchiffer wrote: »

I don't have the car in the city. I use the car only at the weekends down home. Home is not in a town. I need it at the weekends.

Well then may I suggest you try to make a clean break from 'home' and where you work, if you don't have too many commitments? It now sounds like that trying to live this double life week-in-week-out is the main contributor to your costs.

Could you live on €10 a day?

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